Top 10 Future Weapons Of India You Probably Didn’t Know About

by defenceupdate ·
Published October 5, 2017
· Updated November 15, 2017

Being a global leader in development and one of the top 5 military powers in the world, India is constantly developing new arms and ammunition and improving on previous versions of its weaponry. With security challenges increasing, both from within and across borders, the country seems poised to continue with its development agenda. In this post, we bring you some of the weapons that the country is developing right now. Take a look.

1 HAL AMCA && FGFA

HAL AMCA is a super-maneuverable multirole combat aircraft designed for the air superiority, ground attack, bombing, intercepting, Strike and other types of roles. It combines supercruise, stealth, AESA radar, maneuverability, and advanced avionics to overcome and suppress previous generation fighter aircraft along with many ground and maritime defences. It has state of the art systems, flight surfaces and controls, and two internal weapons bays which can each carry four air-to-air missiles. It also comes armed with a 30 mm cannon. The HAL AMCA is expected to have a top speed of Mach 2.5 and be able to operate at an altitude of nearly 60,000 feet.

Sukhoi/HAL FGFA

This Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or Perspective Multi-role Fighter is being developed as a joint venture between Russia and India. It is being designed to compete with the F-22 Raptor and the F-35. It will feature a 30 mm cannon to complement its many missiles. The two-man-crew fighter can travel at an altitude up to 65,000 feet while reaching speeds of Mach 2.3.

IAF is looking for Indian built FGFA to have nearly 70-80 % of components which can be sourced from India with Russian imports limited to less than 20-30 % range. IAF reportedly is also asking for better high thrust engines which have better serviceability and also have higher Indian made components.

2 Agni-VI

Agni-VI is an intercontinental ballistic missile under development by the DRDO for the use of the Indian Armed Forces. Agni-VI will be a four-stage intercontinental ballistic missile. Agni-6 will carry a massive three-tonne warhead, thrice the weight of the one-tonne warhead that Agni missiles have carried so far. This will allow each Agni-6 missile to launch several nuclear warheads -Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Warheads (MIRVs) – with each warhead striking a different target. Each warhead – called Maneuverable Reentry Vehicle (MARV) – performs evasive maneuvers while hurtling down towards its target, confusing enemy air defence missiles that are trying to destroy them mid-air. And these maneuverable warheads will give Agni VI an extended range exact figure of which is currently classified. It will be taller than its predecessor Agni V, and is expected to be flight tested by 2017. Agni-VI missile is likely to carry up to 10 MIRV warheads and will have a strike range of 8,000 km to 12,000 km.

A major factor towards greater range would be the weight reduction in the 50-tonne Agni-5, as older, heavier sub-systems are replaced by lighter, more reliable ones, including many made with lightweight composite materials

3 INS Vishal

INS Vishal is currently under development and is expected to be commissioned in 2025. It will be nuclear powered (allegedly) and nearly 50% larger than INS Vikramaditya.Aircraft’s like DRDO AURA are expected to operate for the carrier.

INS Vishal will be able to accommodate up to 55 aircraft (35 fixed-wing combat aircraft and 20 rotary wing aircraft), launched using a catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) aircraft launch system, incorporating U.S. defense contractor’s General Atomics’ new electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) technology.

The INS Vishal will be the first non-Western aircraft carrier equipped with the complex CATOBAR launch capability. CATOBAR aircraft launch systems put less strain on the airframe of planes during takeoff reducing maintenance cost in the long run and also allows carrier-based aircraft to carry a heavier weapons payload. Furthermore, CATOBAR launch systems increase the sortie rates of carrier air wings by allowing a faster landing and takeoff rate.

The Indian Navy’s preference for the CATOBAR aircraft launch system indicates that the new warship will in all likelihood not carry MiG-29K Fulcrum fighter jets, the current mainstay of India’s naval combat aviation.

The INS Vishal will follow her sister vessel, the INS Vikrant into carrier service in the next decade and sport flat-top flight deck.

4 BrahMos-II or BrahMos Mark II

BrahMos-II is a hyper-sonic cruise missile currently under joint development by Russia and India. It is speculated that it will travel at a speed of Mach 7 and have an operational range of 180 miles. It has the ability to be fired from ships, submarines, aircraft, and land, and is a versatile missile that will strike fast. It will hit with a mighty force to destroy hardened and buried targets such as bunkers and storage facilities. It is scheduled to be ready by 2020.

BrahMos-II will confer on India a major strategic advantage in mountain warfare against China. The missile is designed to select targets hidden behind a mountain range.

The hypersonic weapon’s immense destructive power will result from kinetic energy. An object striking a target at 6 Mach will generate 36 times the force of an object of the same mass striking the target at 1 Mach. This phenomenon makes hypersonic weapons well suited to attacking hardened or deeply buried targets such as bunkers or nuclear and biological-weapon storage facilities.

The HAL Tejas MK-II is a multi-role light combat fighter aircraft with stealth capabilities. The MK2 is an improvement over LCA Airforce Mk1 with higher thrust engine. This aircraft will have improved survivability, maintainability and obsolescence mitigation. Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Unified Electronic warfare Suite (UEWS) and On-Board Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) are some of the state of the art technologies planned to be integrated. The cockpit design has been improved with bigger size, smart Multi function Displays (MFD) and smart Head Up Display (HUD).

Tejas Mk.2 will be a 4++ gen aircraft with tactical strike, air reconnaissance,air defense, and maritime roles which is enough for a light fighter and it can continue upto 2055 till it becomes obsolete.

Mk.1A is also in development which will get to air before 2020. It will have minor changes as compared to Mk.1 and will possess some advanced avionics. It will have no design changes.

6 Future Main Battle Tank-India :

Currently Indian Armed Forces use/or use in near future three different types of main battle tanks and six different series of main battle tanks.

Arjun series tanks are the indigenous battle tanks which was developed keeping in mind to tackle M1 Abrams which was a potential weapon for Pakistan. However since our requirements changed, Arjun has lost the place . Rather now Indian Army wants more lighter tank with advanced armour protection and enhanced fire power.

Impressed by Russia’s T-14 Armata MBT India started to there own future Main Battle Tank development programme.

Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) , a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is in the process of developing a futuristic battle tank called Future Main Battle Tank (FMBT) .The main features of FMBT will be as follows…..

1) Stealth: The Army insists that stealth be built into the FMBT from the ground up — including paints/materials to provide limited invisibility in IR/visible spectrum and for scrambling and avoidance of detection.

2) Armour: FMBT will feature a new generation armour which can withstand even with Fin Stabilized Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS) ammunition, the most lethal kinetic energy ammunition, capable of destroying all known tank armor. India most probably will be the first country to withstand with such kinetic energy threat.

The Army says it wants a high-performance armour system on its FMBT with advanced materials incorporating the following qualities

(a) Reduced penetration by most lethal weapons,

(b) Elimination of parasitic mass leading to a weight reduction,

(c) Excellent corrosion resistance,

(d) Inherent thermal and acoustic insulation properties.

4) Active and Passive Protection System: This tank will feature both active and passive protection system. If the enemy fires a missile using an infrared weapon, soft-kill passive technology would jam the infrared rays thus eliminating the enemy projectile from destroying the asset. If the enemy fires a laser guided missile or a beam rider missile (BRM), in such cases the futuristic MBT will have laser sensors, which will identify whether it is fired from laser guided machine or BRM. The active protection system would launch grenades, which will generate smoke. By this process, the MBT remains hidden and the tank would retaliate at the enemy by launching its own missiles.

7 INS Aridhaman Class Submarine

INS Aridhaman is the second Arihant-class submarine.She is the second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine being built by India.Even though the same class as INS Arihant, she will feature 8 launch tubes instead of the 4 giving her double the firepower of Arihant. Thus she could carry 24 K-15 Sagarika short range SLBMs or 8 K-4 long range SLBMs. She will also feature more powerful reactor than her predecessor.

Sister ship of Aridhaman which will be similar to the lead ship Aridhaman currently is designated as S4 and another follow on Sister Class dubbed as S4* (Plus) will make up Three Aridhaman Ballistic Missile Class Submarine fleet of Indian Navy.

Sandeep Unnithan. Exec Editor, India Today also confirms that India Navy already has started working on the successor of Aridhaman Ballistic Missile Class Submarine at least a decade ago and new larger Ballistic Missile Class which will be designated as S5 and will be as big as Ohio class nuclear-powered submarines currently used by the United States Navy. It is unclear how many S5 sister class ships will be developed at this point in time but the construction of the new class of SSBN is yet to commence and it is likely will go on the floor for nearly a decade from now.

India will be having a fleet of following numbers of Nuclear Submarines in near future :
1 SSBN’s of Arihant Class +3 SSBN’s of Aridhaman Class + S5 SSBN’s apart from 6 new SSN’s + INS Chakra and 1 more to be leased from Russia.

8 Aura UCAV

AURA is an autonomous unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV),The ADA describes the AURA as a “self-defending high-speed reconnaissance UAV with weapon firing capability”.The project is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. The design work on the UCAV is to be carried out by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).

The AURA is expected to carry a pair of laser-guided bombs or similar (depending on mission scope). The DRDO AURA program is in its very early stages of design with certain aspects of the program still being addressed. First flight is optimistically planned for sometime in 2015 and introduction into service is planned for 2020. The AURA came to be largely due to the lack of interest in global suppliers of UCAVs willing to sell an existing system to the IAF. As such, a home-grown effort was born.

9 PAD/ AAD BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE (BMD) SYSTEM, XRSAM && S400

The Indian BMD program raised eyebrows when it was first announced and has come a long way since. It has been successfully tested against a short range ballistic missile and is reportedly deployable at short notice to protect major cities. Two interceptor missiles, the PAD (Prithvi Air Defence) and the AAD (Advanced Air Defence) along with the Green Pine radar form the core of this system. The PAD is an exo-atmospheric interceptor with a ceiling of over 80 km and a range of over 2000 km. It is used to intercept ballistic missiles which are travelling outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The AAD is an endo-atmospheric interceptor with a range of 250+ km and a ceiling of 30 km. It’s used to intercept short-range ballistic missiles. Both these missiles initially guided by an Inertial Navigation System (INS) and have an active radar seeker for homing in on the target.

The long-range Swordfish radar is used to track and provide fire control to these missiles. This Israeli radar has a range of 800+ km and can be used for tracking enemy missile launches and trajectories. India is upgrading this radar to increase its range to 1500 km. This will be used along with upgraded variants of the PAD/AAD missiles which will have a longer range and a higher flight ceiling. It is said that the AAD missile can be used as a long-range SAM to shoot down enemy aircraft and cruise missiles as well. This would make India one of the few operators of 250+ km range SAMs. The PAD and AAD missiles working in tandem are said to have a hit probability of 99.8% against enemy ballistic missile.

XRSAM

XRSAM will be used to bridge the gap between MR-SAM (70 km) and S-400 (400 km) Air Defence System and will be using spin-off technologies developed for countries Anti-Ballistic missile Defence system.

The total system will be consisting of two different surface to air missiles. One will have 250km range another will have 400km range.

These missile will have active radar homing guidance unlike 48N6 & 40N6 SAMs of S-400 have both semi active & active radar homing. According to some unconfirmed sources India is also developing GaN based UHF radars for this system. Though there are no info available on it’s FCR till now.

DRDO is yet to confirm if XRSAM Air Defence Missile system will consist of one or two different type of missile system yet but there are unconfirmed reports indicating that system will be capable of simultaneously engaging cruise missiles, aircraft and ballistic targets, hinting of using two slightly different missile configuartion of same type .

S-400

The S-400s popularity lies in the fact it can neutralise drones as well as ballistic and cruise missiles within a range of 400 kms up to an altitude of close to 32 kms.

The S-400 ‘Triumf’ air defence missile systems is equipped with three different types of missiles and an acquisition radar capable of tracking up to 300 targets within the range of nearly 600 kms.

Triumf is a system made of eight launchers and a control station.

It is capable of firing three types of missiles, creating a layered defence, and simultaneously engaging 36 targets.

10 Project-75I Submarine Project

The Project 75I-class submarine is a follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class submarine for the Indian navy. Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire 6 diesel-electric submarines, which will also feature advanced Air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems to enable them to stay submerged for longer duration and substantially increase their operational range. In October 2014, the project got clearance from Defence Acquisition Council. All six submarines are expected to be constructed in Indian shipyards.

The Project 75I-class submarines will have a vertical launch system(VLS) to enable them to carry multiple Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles, making the submarines fully capable of anti-surface and anti-ship warfare missions. Project 75I submarines will also be armed with torpedoes and will feature advanced stealth capabilities such as a greater ability to suppress noise and acoustic signatures. Submarines will also be outfitted with Air-independent propulsion (AIP) fuel cells which can significantly increase submerged endurance and operational range.